Notorious cartels gain foothold in S.J., Valley

You hear a lot about Mexican cartels and savage violence in Mexico as if it all happens south of the border. Most of the violence does stay south, praise be.

Michael Fitzgerald

You hear a lot about Mexican cartels and savage violence in Mexico as if it all happens south of the border. Most of the violence does stay south, praise be.

But the cartels are here.

A federal multiagency task force recently took down a methamphetamine, marijuana and cocaine trafficking ring operating throughout the Central Valley.

Its recently unsealed criminal complaint filed in U.S. Eastern District Court paints a clear picture of how cartels and their affiliates operate in our area.

According to the complaint, a "confidential reliable informant" revealed that drug traffickers were operating out of a horse ranch in Patterson owned by one Augustin Ramirez.

Wearing a wire, the informant went in posing as a drug trafficker looking to buy meth. An associate of Ramirez' boasted "he was selling the best around, the quality was guaranteed and (he) could get plenty more if needed," the complaint says.

Ramirez, while a key player, was not the boss. Who was? To find out, a second informant was brought in. His cover was a trucker looking to transport drugs in volume to Chicago traffickers.

Soon a black Corvette pulled in and both informants were dealing with the alleged regional kingpin, "Paco," later identified as Francisco Felix of Mountain House.

Felix is a name known from the Arellano-Felix family, which runs the Tijuana Cartel, a small, violent ally of the Sinaloa Cartel.

The Sinaloa Cartel, headquartered in Culiacan, Mexico, is considered to be the most powerful drug trafficking organization in the world.

Investigators have not determined whether Felix is a member of the notorious Mexican family. At one point, however, the complaint says, Ramirez turned to Felix and asked if he remembered the time they "were partying with 'El Mayo Zambada in Mexico.' "

El Mayo Zambada is the nickname of Ismael Zambada García, a Mexican druglord and one of the Sinaloa cartel's leaders.

"The market is here," explained Bruce Wuest, captain of the San Joaquin County Metropolitan Narcotics Task Force. "The drugs are coming from south of the border but they're being sold here. You have to have your trade routes for the drugs, you have to have members of the networks here."

Felix and his associates allegedly imported large quantities of meth cooked in Culiacan and smuggled across the border (most Valley meth labs retreated to Mexico, authorities say).

The meth was stored in a refrigerator in the horse barn. The traffickers also sold marijuana and cocaine. There was no need to import most of the pot. Felix's network of growers stretched across the Valley and up to Tahoe, the complaint says.

As the informants got in deeper, they met Felix's associates, including a Stockton man, Martin Rubio, allegedly a marijuana dealer and living in a two-story grow house on Fort Hall Place.

Most of the criminals, though, lived on small ranches in rural Patterson, Newman, and Ceres, boondocks where they could grow pot outdoors and stash weapons and cash.

One of the addresses is linked to a double homicide several years ago.

As the informants made bigger and bigger buys, the feds set up surveillances on numerous properties. They took aerial photographs. They obtained wiretaps. They got "ping orders" allowing them to track the whereabouts of suspects to nearby cellphone towers.

As sophisticated as the operation was, however, it was nearly blown. The surveillance units staged their vehicles in the Patterson Water District's parking lot. Unbeknownst to the feds, a lowly district employee was relative of Ramirez.

He saw unidentified strangers peering across the distance at the horse ranch and told Ramirez. Ramirez ditched his cellphone and warned accomplices. But trafficking continued.

By the time the agents sprang the trap, they had seized more than 85 pounds of meth through purchases. Also guns and other contraband from raids of at least 19 properties.

A federal grand jury returned a 32-count indictment against Felix and 13 of his alleged associates. If convicted, the defendants face a minimum prison term of five years and a maximum of life, as well as fines of up to $10 million.

The investigation is ongoing - meaning law enforcement officials are following more strands of the web of cartel drug trafficking in the Central Valley.

Contact columnist Michael Fitzgerald at (209) 546-8270 or michaelf@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/fitzgeraldblog and on Twitter @Stocktonopolis.